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Re: What movie did you last watch?

I know that Nolan has a great flair for the dramatic and is big on pushing profound themes in his films but he fails to adequately address and explore them in a coherent, logical manner. Some superficially serious dialogue and moody music does not make a poignant and intelligent film.

You are entitled to your opinion, but I violently disagree with your assessment of Christopher Nolan. For my money, he is the best director alive. Not just for his Batman films, but I am a huge fan of Inception and The Prestige as well. His films are beautifully shot, thought provoking, extremely clever, and open to interpretation. Honestly, as much as I love Batman, I am anxious to see where he goes next, besides his producing credit for the new Superman reboot.

Re: What movie did you last watch?

Just out of curiosity, I checked out some of remakes that are in the pipeline.
Creature from the Black Lagoon (Casue we haven't had a gazillion monster movies since the original was made.)

As someone who appreciates the old horror/monster movies, I have rarely look forward or even go to remakes. The Fly (1986) was an exception, and I actually thought it was on par content wise with the original. Of course, the special effects were fantastic.

Re: What movie did you last watch?

Dark Knight Rises - Look ill be honest im not the biggest fan of it there where parts of the movie where it was incredibly boring and i just wanted to fall asleep, ending battle though is epic and abit of a mind blown kinda moment.

Re: What movie did you last watch?

Edit: Not trying to be a wise guy on ya UB. Rather I suspect Bball may have some questions about your comment because of 1080P vs 720p or it's the actually the same as 1080i, what size screen are you talking about, what's the viewing distance, in other words there is alot of confusion on what the eye can really pick up, etc. The friendly sales folks at Best Buy, Frys, and what use to be Circuit City really did a Sales job on people.

Last edited by RWB; 07-20-2012 at 10:10 AM.
Reason: Little more splaining Lucy

You know how hippos are made out to be sweet and silly, like big cows, but are actually extremely dangerous and can kill you with stunning brutality? The Pacers are the NBA's hippos....Matt Moore CBS Sports....

The Following User Says Thank You to Heisenberg For This Useful Post:

Re: What movie did you last watch?

I was surprisingly disappointed by TDKR. I couldn't BELIEVE how it was so less well put together than TDK. The pacing was just plain CLUNKY. A lot of beats just felt somewhat 'off' to me, and overall it just didn't work for me very well, and

Spoiler:

the ending didn't even make me flinch other than the heartbreaking few seconds with Aflred speaking to Bruce's parents' graves. Didn't like so much of it in the daylight, either. Didn't buy Bruce suddenly being able to beat Bane in a fight (I was expecting him to win by changing up tactics, instead he just stupidly goes right back in with a mano-a-mano fist fight. Really?? We've already established that Bruce was/is extremely rusty, older, a worn down body, and that in this context he's no match for Bane in a straight up fight, but yet the same man, now having just barely recovered from a spinal injury on top of his previous issues, is now ready to win under similar circumstances? That just didn't work for me. And speaking of the end of that fight... why the hell did Bane just sit there and we never even SEE him again once his mask is fixed?

I had HEAVY suspicions Bruce would die, and so while I didn't know for sure it would happen, the fact that he did die didn't surprise me. What did surprise me was I barely cared. It felt so unlike the first two movies to have this happen in broad daylight, in a weird *** flying machine, dangling that somewhat distracting sci-fi-esque ball of a fusion reactor/nuclear bomb with a cable, only to watch him fly out to sea and then have it/him blow up with a mushroom cloud. That was so cartoony, and yet again it felt like another victim of a rushed pace/awkward editing. VERY unsatisfying to me. Their first fight was much better, even with its flaws. Disturbing/hard to watch, which is what I thought would be the case when he died (I thought Bane would kill him). Instead, they get all of that out of their system during Bane Bats I, and in comparison Bane Bats II is a letdown, and he dies in the already-described off-kilter fashion that didn't even resonate with me. I was expecting this to be tear-jerking, but it didn't even come close. It felt rushed and poorly handled.

I know it sounds like I'm ripping this to shreds, but while there's plenty to complain about, there ARE numerous nice bits of good material here, it just did not click at all. TDK was like a near-perfect product in terms of all of the pieces coming together, but here the pieces just DON'T come together very well at all. I keep coming back to the word clunky. The story is clunky, the pace/editing is clunky, a lot of the scenes feel off somehow... it was just shocking how out of rhythm this movie feels compared to the first two.

Nothing has time to breathe or resonate, either. It's just like a kid telling a story, "And then THIS happens, and then THIS happens, and then THIS happens, and then THIS happens, etc." Amazing how a 2 hour, 45 minute movie can feel rushed and bloated at the same time. I keep coming back to the editing as the biggest complaint I have. Number two would have to be the story writing. Now I know why all of the trailers and TV spots tended to feel 'off' to me; it's because the entire movie is 'off' somehow. If I didn't know better, I would have thought a different director made this movie. It's the sloppiest, least-coherent Nolan movie I've seen to date. It's like, scene to scene, this movie needed more time to let things air out and breathe (sometimes BADLY), yet in the bigger narrative picture, this thing could have stood to be slimmed down. So, yeah, I point to editing here. But I'm not letting the writing off the hook, either.

I'm stunned by all of the issues with this film. I knew better than to expect another Dark Knight, but I did expect another Batman Begins, and I just didn't feel like that's what I got. This easily is the worst of the 3 to me. I'm officially giving up on anyone ever making three good movies in a superhero trilogy. After X-Men 3, Spider-Man 3, and now The Dark Knight Rises, I give up on that. If all of those couldn't do it, I'd be FLOORED if someone else pulls it off in the future. #3 just seems to always fall short for numerous reasons.

The funny part is, I'm already committed to a ticket to see it again tomorrow morning!

Which feels good and bad. Bad when I dwell on all of my issues, but good in that there's a lot to take in here, and I'm interested to see how I process things a second time around.

I'm just so dumbfounded to be in this frame of mind tonight; I was sincerely excited as I drove to the movie theater this morning (something I don't feel easily anymore), and again I was hoping for at least another Batman Begins (a movie I like more than many do, I think). I feel off balance right now.

Oh, and also:

Spoiler:

I really felt the absence of the Joker. From what I knew going into the movie, I not only knew they weren't going to talk about him, but I also felt that wouldn't really matter as this plot doesn't need him... or so I thought. But when they establish that Gotham is completely out of control, with no police/government, and the jails being broke open... WHY THE HELL (in the context of the movie, obviously not real life's explanation) WOULD WE NOT SEE THE JOKER RIGHT IN THE THICK OF ALL OF THAT?? I mean you get the Scarecrow acting as "judge" for people, but wouldn't that almost have made more sense for the Joker to be in that position? And if not, surely he would be ECSTATIC to be back on the loose again after EIGHT YEARS to stew on how things played out after The Dark Knight's plot. I really missed that once I realized it should have been happening. I totally understand given Ledger's death they didn't want to go there, but it's frustrating that the plot holds the door WIDE OPEN for a Joker presence, and they just couldn't/wouldn't let him walk through it.

The positive side to this is that by him not being included, this movie doesn't get the chance to diminish Ledger or the character as he so brilliantly performed it in The Dark Knight. That role is now completely isolated with that great movie, and that's not a bad thing from that point of view. He probably would have felt diminished here on multiple levels had he been alive to play the role again in a cameo.

Re: What movie did you last watch?

I know it sounds like I'm ripping this to shreds, but while there's plenty to complain about, there ARE numerous nice bits of good material here, it just did not click at all. TDK was like a near-perfect product in terms of all of the pieces coming together, but here the pieces just DON'T come together very well at all. I keep coming back to the word clunky. The story is clunky, the pace/editing is clunky, a lot of the scenes feel off somehow... it was just shocking how out of rhythm this movie feels compared to the first two.

Agreed, though:

Spoiler:

The fight scene between Batman and Bane in the sewer is arguably the best of the entire trilogy. The part where Bane has him down, punching him in the face/mask while Bruce can't even put his hands up to defend himself... that was extremely tough for me to watch. The way that fight showed how Bruce was out of shape and knew he didn't have a chance was beautiful movie making. I almost teared up watching Batman's desperation and determination, despite the fact that he knew how overwhelmed he was.

Re: What movie did you last watch?

Re: What movie did you last watch?

I completely disagree, I thought it was fun film. It would have been really difficult to beat TDK in terms of suspense and theatricality, but I thought it was still well done. I'm too lazy to post a rebuttal on most of that, but for me I just really enjoyed all of the characters. I do like TDK better, but in no way was this a bad film.

Don't ask Marvin Harrison what he did during the bye week. "Batman never told where the Bat Cave is," he explained.

Re: What movie did you last watch?

I have a side question for all Batman fans: What if Heath Ledger wouldn't have died? Would TDKR have been an entirely different movie? Would The Joker have been involved? Would they not have gone out of their way to avoid mentioning him? Would the battle that was "destined to last forever" have continued? Would the triology have benefitted with another Ledger/Joker film? Would Ledger's Joker lose some mystique from another film?

Re: What movie did you last watch?

I think this sums up how I feel. I agree there are plot issues, but I think the tone of the movie was good. I personally enjoyed the increased light in this movie as it was a nice break from the darkness of the last movie. It didn't have me on the edger of my seat like the end of TDK, but that's ok. And I definitely feel this was more comic-booky, which I really enjoyed.

Don't ask Marvin Harrison what he did during the bye week. "Batman never told where the Bat Cave is," he explained.

Re: What movie did you last watch?

I completely disagree, I thought it was fun film. It would have been really difficult to beat TDK in terms of suspense and theatricality, but I thought it was still well done. I'm too lazy to post a rebuttal on most of that, but for me I just really enjoyed all of the characters. I do like TDK better, but in no way was this a bad film.

I really liked TDKR. Comparing it to TDK is inevitable, but that was a damn near perfect film for it's genre. The Joker is Batman's chief villain and Ledger perfected that role. We had such high expectations for this film that anything shy of amazing would not have sufficed. It is still a great film and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The Dark Knight was better, but looking at the bigger picture, this triology will go down as one of the best in history. I was upset when TDKR ended mainly because I knew this was the last time we would see Nolan's Batman on screen. He changed the genre. Batman Begins is just another origin story if you watch it now. But back when it came out, it was a revelation.